I am bumping this thread because I updated my AI. It's a lot smarter now and I might be able to actually make soldier buddies for games and maybe a kit for everyone else to use for their own games. Right now, I posted the updated "soldier version." Enjoy guys!

UPDATES:

He backs up when you get to closeHe gives up when you are to farHe follow you when your a certain distance away from himHe targets you with some swayNew Cover System.

you know, I really like AIs.
anyway, first of all, the basic thing they need to do before anything is stay in cover. you have to make predetermined spots as "cover" or go the extra mile and make it identify the cover them selves.

Next, you have to make them pop in and out of cover at random or conditionally eg. when he has enough ammo etc..

Hopefully that was helpful. what I found was it was best lay out the basics first with any AI.

An example of the thing you can add on to the cover is for the AI to advance/retreat getting to cover to cover.

I guess. I have a list already of the things I will do in the future and avoiding grenades and taking cover is in there, but this was just to show that they can follow you realistically. Thanks for the suggestions though.

New Update. There is now a cover system and I'm working on controlling 3 AI buddies. The first one is done. Enjoy guys. Select the soldier you want to command with the icons on the top right of hte screen. Then, walk up to the piece of cover, click it, and your guy will move to cover. To tell him to get out of cover, press (C). To make him stop following you when he's following you, press (C). Enjoy!

Btw, it's not fully done yet so it may be a bit glitchy. Also, Room14, I am targeting this AI to do a certain task and it's being a squad. I already added 3 squad members who follow your orders. New Update just added.